Residents in a Paris neighborhood have threatened to launch a hunger strike if authorities don’t remove migrants sleeping on the streets.

Via: Jacob Bojesson

Locals accuse the migrants of trashing the sidewalks and harassing women. A neighborhood association has given authorities until Jan. 1 to tackle the problem before members go on a hunger strike.

“The pavement is sometimes soaked in urine and the streets aren’t cleaned every day,” Pierre Vuarin, a spokesman for the neighborhood association, told The Telegraph Sunday. “Some people have sold their flats at knockdown prices and others have suffered mental breakdowns.”

President Emmanuel Macron recently vowed to clear the streets of migrants by the end of the year. Police have carried out dozens of mass evacuations in recent years but camps keep reappearing across the capital.

“For those who are persecuted, for freedom fighters … they must be welcomed on our territory,” Macron said during a speech in July, according t0 The Times. “Letting them wander from border to border, that is not what France is about. No country can take in all the economic migrants.”

Interior Minister Gérard Collomb has proposed a ban on Muslim street prayers in Paris after repeated clashes between protesters and Muslims worshipping .

“They will not have prayers on the street, we will prevent street praying,” Collomb told Franceinfo in November. “We will make sure we resolve this conflict in the next few weeks.”

Please help our independent journalism by spreading this article! Share!